This invention has the potential for wide applicability, but in one embodiment, describes the collection and storage of biological material, in particular, genetic material, and the populating of a biometric device for use in the timely identification of individuals. Organisations, particularly those having a global reach (e g military forces, global companies etc.), face difficult and serious challenges concerning the safety of troops and employees facing battlefield scenarios, natural disasters, air crashes, kidnapping and terrorism. In each of these cases, it can be difficult to identify individuals so that remains may be returned to next of kin, insurance claims processed and estates settled. In some instances, due to severity of injuries, there is little information to identify the deceased or victim. Therefore there is an improved need to rapidly identify human remains and individuals. An objective of the present invention is to provide a more reliable way of identifying remains of an individual. Conventionally, this is achieved by storage and retrieval of genetic material. The genetic material could include a blood spot or cells transferred from buccal swab from an individual's mouth and the genetic material may be stored on the card. The inventors have found that significant improvements in data confidence and processability can be made by employing electronic data storage adjacent the solid support on which the biological material is stored e.g. a radio-frequency identification (RFID) ‘tag’ capable of receiving, storing and/or sending personal information or genetic data to a remote receiver. Examples of personal information are sex, ethnicity, religion, blood group, tissue (HLA) type and so on.
Biometrics (or biometric authentication) refers to the identification of humans by their characteristics or traits. The benefit of using DNA as a biometric identifier is the level of accuracy offered: the chance of two individuals sharing the same DNA profile is less than one in a 100 billion when 26 short tandem repeats (STR) of nucleic acids are used.